Pre-Bloodstock interview: KryoCell

Due to the huge number of bands playing at Bloodstock this year, and the fact that our two roving reporters will actually want to watch some of them, we’re doing a little round of pre-festival interviews this year. We’re focussing on the bands playing the Jagermeister and Hobgoblin New Blood Stages so they get a chance to convince you to go and watch them. Remember, these guys and gals are the future of our musical world!

Simple things first – where are you guys from?

Liverpool, England.

How did you meet?

Tomm and Ste already knew each other and Rich and Darren were in a previous band together for several years, Tomm knew Rich already and had heard of the falling out him and Darren had with the band so decided to get them in. Karl was a lucky catch as we went through two different drummers and neither could keep up with what we wanted. Luckily Ste approached Karl at the 2013 Metal 2 the Masses final and asked to try out. Thus KryoCell was formed…unfortunately Darren left the band early this year (2015) due to other personal commitments.

How long have you been playing together as a band?

It will be 2 years in august since forming, for gigging it will be just over a year.

Where does the name of the band come from?

Well, our name is a blessing in disguise. It was originally just a name, but the band have realised that we could use this as a concept for being cryogenically modified/tortured. And also possibly to do with Ste getting the idea from the movie Demolition Man.

What are your influences – individually or as a band?

Our influences are much the same in KryoCell, Karl likes anything that is fast (Slayer, Sepultura, Metallica, Fear Factory and George Kollias). While Ste likes Brutal Death Metal/Slam (Devourment, Cannibal Corpse, Dying Fetus, Kraanium and Korpse). Tomm likes bands like Machine Head, Cattle Decapitation and Strapping Young Lad and Rich likes bands like Scar Symmetry, Amon Amarth and Devildriver.

We basically just throw all that metal into a melting pot and see what comes out.

Describe your music. What makes you unique?

We are a mixture all types of metal, we have blastbeats, grooves and some slams. Also we are the only local death metal band (that we know of) that use a cowbell…..because why not.

What’s your live show like? How many shows have you played?

Our live show is energetic, fast with the obligatory banter in between. We have played possibly 20-30 shows, in places such as Preston, Manchester, Glasgow and of course Liverpool.

When/how did you find out you’d been selected to play at Bloodstock?

We were in the M2TM competition, although we did not win we did however impress Simon Hall enough to allow us to go through and had given us the Guest Slot, which by the way we are massively grateful for!

What sort of setlist can we expect?

We’ll be starting off with our newest song, ending with our most recognised track from our EP (have a guess which one). In between that there will be some Blastbeats, Grooves and Slams.

Which main stage band do you most hope you’re not clashing with so you can see them play?

We have our stage time of 12pm Friday, Karl misses Nuclear Assault because the gear won’t move itself!

What are you working on at the moment?

After Bloodstock we are going to begin writing new songs for our next EP which will be a split with our brothers in Exhumation. It’s safe to say we need more tunes for people!

What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done on tour?

We haven’t really been on tour as such but if we had to pick a moment from doing a gig then it would have to be the time we were travelling back from Glasgow, Karl and Tomm had waaay too much to drink and we had to stop the car on the motorway in the middle of nowhere before Tomm threw his guts up in the car, Karl needed to stretch his legs so he scaled the barrier only to slip and fall down a hill. Pitch black and all we hear was a drunk scouser shouting “Arrgh fuck sake! I’ve gone on me arse”. So we had a drunk drummer who didn’t know where he was and a vocalist being sick.

What advice would you give to a young band just starting out today?

We are still pretty much a young band, so we can only comment on what we know. Which is just take your time, not everything needs to be done asap.

And of course the main thing. Have fun with it! Enjoy every moment of it, even during the shit times….stick to it!

If you could be part of any 3-band line-up who else would you have on the bill? One band above you and one below – a chance to plug a smaller, unsigned act!